Guess i watched a different jets/pats game. The one i watched the jets pretty much handed the game over in turn overs.

Hence the Toro palm. I'm being sarcastic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

The Patriots have been absolutely brutalizing opponents. Almost flawlessly. You have to go back to the first few weeks of the season to see a Patriots team that stumbles enough to let the opponent have a crack at 'em.

Ummm, no. Just no. Three weeks ago, they beat Buffalo by 6, which was close the entire game. It was a 3 point game with 8 minutes to go in the 4th, that's hardly a resounding win, and much less so than our 21-9 victory over the same team. That was week 10, three weeks before that they went to overtime with the Jets in Foxboro. Then you have to consider their three losses to Arizona, Seattle and Baltimore.

The Texans have had their close calls as well this season, but our team has pulled it off, mostly thanks to its stout defense. Unfortunately for Brady and company, they don't have a clutch defense that shows up at the end of games, and that is a major advantage for the Texans. I expect us to exploit their poor defense which is giving up 390 yards per game, good for 27th overall in the league. Their current 5 win streak includes victories over the Jets x2, Rams, Bills and Colts. Only one of those teams is over .500. The only two teams they have beaten with a winning record this year are the Broncos and Colts.

They are hardly the giants you make them out to be, we can take 'em.

Dutch you know full well that even the bad teams play UP to an opponent.

Even in the AFCE, a mediocre Dolphins team can beat the Patriots one time. A bad Browns team can eek out a win versus a good Ravens team.

In the NFL, mediocre teams can play down to similarly mediocre teams--those games where it looks like neither team really wants to win it--and a lot of times that same mediocre team turns around the next week and plays really good against a top team.

I count the Patriots as the scariest team in the NFL on every single Sunday. No other team has sustained their level of play for as long as the Pats have. Not the Ravens. Not the Saints. Def not the Packers and 49ers who are relatively new to those types of performances.

If we beat the Patriots, IMO, it's fate. We're headed to New Orleans. That's how I feel about that game. The ultimate testing ground, IMO.

The Jags game being close does not mean that the Vikings are now an inherently more dangerous team to the Texans than they were 2 weeks ago.

I'm beginning to think we're edging closer and closer to being that snobby fan of a great team that we always loathed.

I have guarded optimism, nothing more. The Jets were supposed to be a pushover but the game wasn't decided until near the end. Bears. Jags. Lions. We're not exactly blowing teams out of the water ya' know.

If Texans keep it close, we know our guys have the mettle to win it in the end. I just think there's been some uninspired play too much this reg season already, and that won't cut it in the final 5-game stretch.

Not a hater. Not a Doug Downer. Just saying its really premature to count any team out of it before the games even started.

I'm beginning to think we're edging closer and closer to being that snobby fan of a great team that we always loathed.

I have guarded optimism, nothing more. The Jets were supposed to be a pushover but the game wasn't decided until near the end. Bears. Jags. Lions. We're not exactly blowing teams out of the water ya' know.

If Texans keep it close, we know our guys have the mettle to win it in the end. I just think there's been some uninspired play too much this reg season already, and that won't cut it in the final 5-game stretch.

Not a hater. Not a Doug Downer. Just saying its really premature to count any team out of it before the games even started.

There is no such thing as an NFL team that wins 19 blowouts. The Texans aren't playing against cardboard cutouts here these are actual other NFL teams.

Nobody is counting a team out, but I'm not quaking in my boots over Christian Ponder and the Vikes because Chad Henne had a decent game against us. The Colts and the Patriots remain the most dangerous teams left on the Texans schedule in my eyes.

I'm beginning to think we're edging closer and closer to being that snobby fan of a great team that we always loathed.

Who's being snobby? Just because our team is better, we're smarter and better looking fans whose sh!t don't stink and our opinions are always right does not mean we're snobby. Hell, our cars, yards, and wet dreams are better than theirs and we drink better beer.

You'll let me know how bad the Texans rushing D is again first. And that's counting games with missing starters on Defense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

This has been my problem with the wins over Jags and Lions.

Too many fans ignore the momentum factor. Yeah, we won some games in OT and have shown resiliency. Resiliency won't do crap for you if you're down 24 points midway through the 1st half. You can take resiliency and blow boogers into it at that point, it'd be worth that much.

The Patriots have been absolutely brutalizing opponents. Almost flawlessly. You have to go back to the first few weeks of the season to see a Patriots team that stumbles enough to let the opponent have a crack at 'em.

I suggest you re-watch some recent Pats games then, because that "almost flawlessly" team you speak of hasn't been on the field for them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

You're trolling. And it looks really pathetic, btw.

Who's trolling here? You "doom and gloom" and someone called you out on it. Deal with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

"Contain AP"...??
...with half our starting defense missing or gimpy?

I hope we can get up on the Vikings by a couple of TDs and make them go into passing mode. And even then AP isn't out of the picture.

Even teams we haven't been up two TDs on have gone into passing mode against us. Right now, to NOT go after the Texans secondary is a mistake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

Don't anybody act like that was just existent in a vacuum. A bad team can kick any team's ass. Even our beloved Texans.

Nope we see a team that keeps finding a way to win, you see a poor widdle struggling football team that can't fight their way out of a paper bag. Most of us aren't ignorant of the dire injury situation we're in, but the AFC is still the Texans to lose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

I'm beginning to think we're edging closer and closer to being that snobby fan of a great team that we always loathed.

Beter that than what you're espousing on here. I think you're turning into the perpetual "I've got to point out all the bad things about a 10-1 team to be relevant" person. I'm a realist personally. You're still stuck in Texans of old mode and it shows. Dial it back a bit and we'll take you more seriously.

__________________D.B. - That sounds like a nugget of reality wrapped in a layer of embellished hyperbole.

Jags were worst team in the NFL and we almost lost to then in regulation AND in the OT period.

Last year the Patriots lost to Buffalo & still managed to get into the Super Bowl.

It's the same thing. Divisional games are just different.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

Don't anybody act like that was just existent in a vacuum. A bad team can kick any team's ass. Even our beloved Texans.

Except the Patriots you mean, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

I simply won't be lulled into looking at stats and going "Gee, poor suckers...they won't know what hit 'em when we play them...." LOL, yeah cuz like that logic was an epic fail vs the Jags.

Vikings and Patriots are the two games that are the most dangerous ones.

Truthfully, I'm with you. I hope Jacksonville taught our guys a lesson & they bring it every snap. I want homefield through out. I think it's huge. & to be this close & not get it done would be a major let down.

Injuries & what not, are real & will provide an obstacle to getting it done. But I'd still be disappointed.

Take a breath. Look, I'll respond to your post in a second with a specially-crafted re-explanation of myself since I don't think you're really tuning into what i am saying on this whole topic of our remaining schedule and stuff.

Hey disaacks: I'd like you to go back to the following Game Day threads, please:

Jets game.

Bears game.

Jags game.

I didn't post, IIRC, in the Lions game because I was at in-laws house for it. But I felt the same way in that game I felt in the other three games aforementioned ^^^.

--------------

In those threads, people were wailing and gnashing teeth. Woe is me! It's the end! We suck! Yep, we deserve to lose. On and on and on....so many people were despondent as those games remained squeaky close throughout the game to the very end. Except I can say, honestly 100%, that in those games I never doubted we'd win. I just wondered HOW.

I'm not trying to brag here, I'm just saying that your attempt to paint me as a Doug Downer is patently incorrect. But you're obviously bent on portraying me that way, since I'm an easy target for that (i.e. GP doesn't pump sunshine like some Super Fans do). Fine. Have fun with it.

I don't doubt our team. In fact, I DO believe in our team. But I cannot and will not marginalize other NFL teams that I think pose somewhat of a challenge to us. With the Vikings, their running attack (if it gets going) it's nasty stuff on opposing defenses. With the Patriots, their passing game is lethal on opposing defenses. Run with one. Pass with the other one. Two teams, two different ways to beat up a defense.

I've seen us get gouged for runs of like 6, 10, and even 10+ yards A POP, so it's not exactly the dominating run defense it was a year ago. I've seen this secondary get toasted by a journeyman QB (Henne) on what was supposed to be a very weak Jags offense. Oops. Without a crucial fumble by the Bears' RB Bush, that game likely ends 13-10 in favor of Bears.

Super Bowl teams get the right bounces, for sure, but sometimes you just get beaten by either your own mistakes or by superior efforts of opponents. The Pats-Jets game was a combination of both of those. IF the Texans bring their best game, it'll be close and I expect to win it. If they slack and act like slugs, which frankly has been the norm the past month, then they're going to need help via Patriots mistakes.

If that makes me some sort of doofus like you are espousing, then ummm....yeah, OK. I've backed up my post with reasons why I think the way I think. I have no dog in any fight that involves trying to convert anyone to my thinking, either. It's just what I sense from having watched this whole season and looking at it as objectively as possible.